Agent-host mutual authentication

As an alternative to the present client/server applications on the Internet, researchers in universities and industry are trying to define a secure agent infrastructure which can protect both the agent and the agent place (server, ducking place). The main advantage of the agent is that it can move (roam) on the Internet searching for answers for the users. Such feature saves a lot of bandwidth as more people demand their home and office environments to be available to them on their notebook computers with wireless communications with significantly lower bandwidth. In order for the agent to perform its task(s), it must be able to protect its resources against any malicious act and the same thing applies for the hosting place. The purpose of this paper is to provide a protocol for mutual authentication between the agent and the host. This protocol is such that it works with different agent paradigms